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Monday, 15 June 2015

Exam Invigilation In A Fresher Way

Hey you! just spare a thought for educators like me who are hit hard with invigilation duties during examination period. You might be thinking of poor condition of students actually cramming their syllabus and sitting in exams, but the pressure of mind-numbing boring exam duties gives me a dreaded feel at times.
I enjoy playing the role of secret invigilator busy patrolling in and around the vicinity on the lookout for any crib-sheets hidden away and handling the defaulters in strict manner. But it gets stressful when I am delegated as the chief invigilator for the session and something goes wrong during my tenure like distribution of the wrong exam paper to someone by a staffer, uncontrollable noise in the hall, catching a student practicing UMC and something similar..
And even if everything is working smooth, those four hours feel boring because I have to stand in a silent room stern expressions on my face for hours and hours with no phone or computer to play with, no book or newspaper to read.
You may, though, take it as an advantage that at least you get a few hours during a very busy time of the term when you can do nothing and de-clutter your mind for a while!
During my recent invigilation for a public examination being conducted at my college by an external entity, when I was gazing out of the windows n day-dreaming about my summer holidays; one of the restless candidates stood up from his seat and announced aloud, "Ma'am, I can't concentrate on solving these questions without any music around.." And I was astounded at his courage n thought, "he not only looks idiotic in his weird spiked hairdo, but his brains work the same way as well. How can he expect us to provide him a drawing room ambiance in examination room??"...
Before I could open my mouth to answer his stupid statement, he justified saying, "Ma'am, why is our examination system so silly. Don't you know that right kind of music cuts down on distractions and keeps our brain engaged at a subconscious level. What's the harm if a velvety voice like Anushka Manchanda does magic to our performance. Infact, we should be given a 2 min break in between to warm ourselves up with some energetic dance moves like my fav star Allu Arjun to put our brains in a bright and breezy frame of mind."
All present in the room, including myself, listened to him for a while, but I found myself unable to comprehend with his thought. And he again continued, "Ma'am, numerous academic studies have zeroed in on the effects of dance and music to provoke a positive change in the learning environment like this examination room."
I was willing to acknowledge this welcome change because I remembered myself studying with my music system on all the time. But I had to make him understand that there is some more time in our country to provide him a classroom with access to music n soft dance numbers ;)